1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a block-based object counting apparatus and a block-based object counting method. More particularly, the present invention relates to a block-based object counting apparatus and a block-based object counting method that enables accurate counting of objects passing through an interested block by cameras using image processing technology.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is necessary to accurately count pedestrians or moving objects in various fields. For example, it is very important to know the directions and the number of pedestrians moving through an entrance, an elevator, or an escalator of a shopping mall or a large building. In other words, a shopping mall can more effectively advertise products or efficiently dispose products or stores without the addition of separate spaces, by recognizing flow of pedestrians and analyzing traffic, using count information.
Conventional pedestrian or object counting systems count people or objects passing through doors simply using sensors, but frequently cause considerable counting errors due to characteristics of sensors when a plurality of people or objects simultaneously pass through doors.
In order to overcome the above-mentioned problem, in recent years, an image processing technology using images acquired by cameras has become increasingly popular as a means to provide an accurate count of a plurality of pedestrians or objects. This image processing technology counts objects existing within visual fields of cameras installed at high locations by tracing and extracting the objects. The image processing technology, however, considers neither a change in the size of an object due to the relative position of the object to a camera nor, the fact that almost all cameras are designed to monitor a wider area using a lens having a wider visual field, causing distortion of an image. In other words, counting of pedestrians or objects without consideration of a change in size due to their relative positions to a camera and distortion of images causes counting errors. Therefore, there is a long-felt need to both consider changes in size due to the relative positions of a plurality of pedestrians or objects passing through an interested block to a camera, and for a more accurate counting of the pedestrians or objects by calibrating errors generated by distortion of images created using lenses.